Passenger Barbara Davey and her husband, John Davey, set sail on a Mediterranean cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas on December 5, 2010. Despite warnings of bad weather, the ship left port as planned and headed out into the ocean. On December 12, 2010, a terrible and terrifying 80 mph storm struck the cruise ship, tossing passengers, including Barbara Davey, around the boat. John Davey recalls many of the events from that horrifying night.

John said: “We thought we were going to die there and then. It was absolutely -terrifying.”

He said the ship lurched around so badly he thought it was going to topple over. “Barbara was shaking and screaming as the ship bounced backwards and forwards, listing at 30-degree angles.

“At one point, I was thrown against the glass- walled balcony and could see the propellers of the ship lifting right out of the sea.

“Barbara was tossed around the cabin and was seriously hurt. When the storm calmed and we came out of our ¬cabins, it looked like a bomb had gone off inside the ship.”

After being taken to the hospital, doctors determined that Barbara Davey suffered a series of strokes which caused the coma.

On December 28, she was airlifted back to the UK and admitted to the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.

She died on January 7. The cause of death was given as brain hemorrhage. John said: “She was my whole world, now she’s gone, the pain is unbearable.”

Primary Sources: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/01/30/passenger-dies-after-cruise-ship-sails-into-80mph-storm-115875-22884753/#ixzz1CcPa0Dgd

JONES v. CARNIVAL CORPORATION

The following is a description of a personal injury case we have filed. This is a case involving a personal injury aboard the Imagination, a cruise ship owned by Carnival Cruise Line.

The accident occurred on Carnival Imagination in navigable waters while our client, Mr. Jones, was a passenger onboard. Carnival Cruise Line created a dangerous condition on its ship, a large puddle of water or other liquid on the Lido Deck near the lifeboats. Carnival allowed the dangerous condition to exist without cleaning and drying it for an unreasonable amount of time such that Carnival Cruise Line knew or should have known of the existence of the puddle, had the time and opportunity to clean and dry the puddle, and failed to clean and dry the puddle.

This negligence on behalf of Carnival Cruise Line thereby caused an accident in which our client, Mr. Jones, slipped and fell and was severely injured. Because of this slip and fall, Mr. Jones underwent reconstructive surgery of his right knee and will need more surgery in the future.

We are fighting… for the safety and security of you and your family. Making cruise lines, other commercial facilities, and products safer and more secure, one case at a time.

Call us today. All consultations are free and strictly confidential. TOLL FREE: 1.800.215.7117. See our website for information on what to do in the event of an injury on a cruise ship: www.hickeylawfirm.com. See also www.cruiseshipassault.com. The bottom line is get medical care immediately, take photos of the area where you were injured, get the names and contact information of witnesses, and report the accident or incident at once. Also, CALL HICKEY LAW FIRM, P.A., TOLL FREE AT: 1.800.215.7117. Our consultations are always free. We work on a contingency fee basis; if we don’t recover, you don’t pay. Personal injury, wrongful death, sexual assaults, and medical malpractice. This all happens on cruise ships and we have handled these types of claims for 29 years.

The cruise ship industry has restricted when and where you can place a claim. Those restrictions appear in the fine print of the ticket. The ticket may also have a provision that requires you to file your claim within one year of the time cruise ship accidents occur, and they also require that claims be made in Miami, FL. Because of these limitations, it is important to have representation from an experienced attorney who can ensure you take the necessary steps in case of cruise ship accidents.

CONTACT US AND SEE OUR RESULTS AT: www.hickeylawfirm.com and CALL US TOLL FREE AT 1.800.215.7117.

The Carnival Splendor cruise ship that caught fire on November 8, 2010 is making its way to San Francisco for repairs, with the help of two tug boats. Since November 18, 2010, the Splendor was stationed at a San Diego’s Marine Terminal. The ship will be dry-docked in San Francisco for electrical work.

The fire onboard the Carnival Splendor started in the engine room and caused the massive ship to be set adrift after the engines shut off. Over 3,000 passengers were stranded without food or hot water for bathing. U.S. Navy helicopters dropped food to the passengers and crew while the ship was at sea.

Primary Sources: http://maritimematters.com/2011/01/carnival-splendor-to-san-francisco/

The following is a description of a sexual assault case we have filed. This is a case involving a sexual assault aboard the Carnival Legend, a cruise ship owned by Carnival Cruise Lines.

Carnival Cruise Line undertakes to provide babysitting services and a program for youth called Camp Carnival for the minor children of its passengers. Carnival undertakes to do this as an inducement to people to buy tickets for its cruises. The cruise line makes representations about its babysitting services and the Camp Carnival program in its literature, on its website, and onboard its ships. Carnival represents directly or indirectly that it provides a safe, secure and fun experience for the minor children of its passengers. In fact, the cruise line represents that it provides the setting, the personnel, and the rules and procedures which provide for the safety and security of the minor children of its passengers.

Despite the Carnival Cruise Line’s undertaking to provide babysitting services and a program for the minor children of its passengers and despite the representations made by the cruise line, Carnival did not provide a reasonably safe setting, and violated its own rules on separation of children to properly monitor the activities of the children and through the failure to keep divided the children by their age groups, encouraged and allowed a passenger to sexually molest, batter, and assault a 4 year old girl who was a passenger onboard and in the baby sitting program at Camp Carnival onboard the Carnival Legend. Our client was sexually molested, assaulted, and battered for an extended period of time of at least 25 minutes, under a blanket.

Recently, 150 passengers on Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas became ill from what is suspected to be Norovirus, a contagious form of the stomach flu. Due to the illnesses, the cruise ship carrying 2,336 passengers was delayed in departing from the Port of Tamp on a cruise heading to Mexico.

After sick passengers departed the ship, Royal Caribbean cleaning crews sanitized the entire boat before new passengers boarded. This cleaning delayed the ship’s departure for 5 hours.

Cruise ships calling at U.S. ports are required to report all cases of gastrointestinal illness to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last year there were 14 such outbreaks.

Primary Sources: http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/01/10/cruise-ship-gets-extra-cleaning-after-150-fall-ill/

The following is a description of a personal injury case we have filed. This is a case involving a personal injury onboard the Serenade of the Seas, a cruise ship owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line owns and operates the cruise ship, Serenade of the Seas. The cruise line chose for the surface of part of the deck 11 outdoors and on the same deck as the pool, a slick and extremely slippery surface. That surface is especially slippery when it is wet and the cruise lines should anticipate that the surface will be wet. Yet, the cruise line positioned a towel bin which allows passengers to obtain clean towels in a position such that passengers who are dripping wet and exiting the pool would logically walk from the pool area past the base of the subject stairway to get to the subject towel bin in order to access and obtain dry towels. The cruise line knew both that water accumulated in this area and that this area became extremely slippery when wet. This dangerous situation is aggravated by the fact that the wet, slippery area is located at the base of a staircase, at a place where the person stepping off of the staircase is transitioning from stepping down to stepping onto a flat surface. Thus, the cruise line was negligent by among other things choosing and allowing to exist the type of flooring in that area, by allowing to exist for an unreasonable amount of time the slippery foreign material on the flooring, by positioning the towel bin at the base of steps and in proximity to a place which would receive water on a fairly regular basis, and by the failure to watch out for, warn of, and clean and dry a large area of wetness at the base of a staircase.

Our client in this case, a passenger onboard the ship, descended the staircase, stepped on to the deck, and immediately slipped and fell back because of a puddle or wet area at the base of that staircase. Our client, as a result of this fall, suffered a spiral fracture of her left ankle and damage to the ligaments. The damage required open surgery on February 2, 2010, six days after the accident.

Two dietary weight-loss supplements, Fruta Planta and Reduce Weight Fruta Planta, have voluntarily been recalled by their manufacturer. The reason for the recall is because both of these supplements contain the banned weight-loss drug sibutramine.

Sibutramine was taken off the United States market in October 2010. Side effects associated with this drug include “an increased risk of stroke and myocardial infarction, may also cause patients to experience elevated blood pressure or pulse rate; may increase risk to patients with a history of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, or stroke; and may have negative and life-threatening interactions with some drugs.”

The Fruta Planta and Reduce Weight Fruta Planta supplements were sold online. It is recommended that any individual who has this product throw it away and if a consumer experiences any negative side effects after taking the product, they should consult with their doctor right away.

Primary Sources: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/FDAGeneral/24155